Automatic musical instrument.



W. P. BAYER.

AUTOMATIG MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLIOATION TILED DEO.13,1907.

Patented May 11, 1909.

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AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED DEU.13,1907.

Patented May 11, 1909.

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APPLIOATION FILED DEG.13,1907.

921,346. Patented Maw 11, 1909.

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f/(uwmaydv UN TED STATES PA ENT enrich.

WILLIAM F. BAYER, OF BUFFALO, NEWKYORK, ASSIG'NOR TO THE CHASE & BAKER COMPANY,

OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented .May 1 1, 3.909.

Application filed. December 13, 1907. Serial No. 406,287.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM F. BAYER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement -in Automatic Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the expression devices of pneumatically-operated musical instruments and more particularly to combined manual and self-playing pianos in which the hammcr-rail is divided or seetional, so that either of thcsections can be moved toward the strings ifgidependentlypf the other to shorten the stroke of somc of the hammers, thereby subduing or softening the corresponding tones and empbasizing those produced by the ren'iaining hammers.

"1 7, Fig. 5.

The object of my invention is the provision of simple and convenient means for actuating the sections of the hammer rail.

in the accompanying drawings consisting of 3' sheets: Figure 1 is a sectional front elevation of a piano embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of one of the motor-pneumatics of the supplemental hammer-rail and the valve mechanism of said pneumatic. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section of said valve mechanism at right angles to F ig. 2. Fig. 4 is a transverse vcrti cal section of the instrument in line 4-4, Fig. 1. section of the key table, on an enlarged sca le, taken through the flushing valve of one of the 'motor-pneumatics of the hannuer-rail. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary bottom plan view, on an enlarged scale, of the portion of the keytable to which said flushing valves are applied. Fig. 7 is a horizontal section in line Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional side elevation of one of the rail-operating pneumatics. Fig. 9 is an enlarged cross section of the main and supplemental hammerrails. Fig. 10 is a perspective view of said rails and connecting parts.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views.

A indicates the case of the instrument, A the key-table; A the piano-keys; A the hammers of the daho-action; B the wind chest and B the motor-p1ieumatics of the hammers. The piano action and the pneumatic action may be of any suitable or wellnown construction.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary transverse:

1.) indicates the customary main hammer rail extending continuously nearly from side to side ofthe case and pivoted to fixed supports D by the usual arms (I. This main rail has the customary upright actuating rod d which is operated by the usual pedal, not shown, in a common manner.

E, E indicate a sectional supplemental hammer-rail arranged on the rear side of the main hammer rail D and resting normally against the latter. This rail is composed of a number of independent section preferably two, one for the hammers of the bass and the other for those of the treble, as shown. The sections of the supplemental rail are movable toward and from the strings, and for this purpose are preferably provided with downwaidly-extending arms 6 which are pivoted at e to bracket-sf carried by the main hau'imer-rail D, as shown in F igs. l and 9. The -supplemental rail-sections E, E are swung rearwardly by inde 'iendent motorpneumatics G, G, preferably arranged below the key table on opposite sides of the windchest, as shown in Fig. 1. win the preferred construction illustrated in the drawings, the movable boards of the pneumatics G, G swing vertically and arearranged below the fixed boards and thcseniovable boards bear against buttons l2 mounted on upright rods or abstracts h The latter are provided near their up ,:ercnds with shoulders 7L2 which bear loose-1y against the underside of actuating arms l secured to the sections E, E of the srurplemcntal ha.n'nm- .r-1'ail and extending forwardly therefrom, as bestshownin Figs. 4 and 10. The reduced portions of too rods 71/ pass loosely through openings in the iiXcd support ing boards 7c of the uiotor-pneumatics, as shown in Fig. 8. The reduced upper ends of those rods pass through openings 'i of the arms 1 with suilicient loosencss to permit the requisite swinging movement of the supplemental rail sections. The action of the motor pncumatics (l, (r is preferably controlled by the following mechanismz- J indicates a valve box or casing containing an upper air chamber a lower exhaust chamber j and an intermediate valve chamber The upper chamber communicates with the atmosphere by an aperture 76 and with the valve chamber j by a flushing port id. The exhaust chamber communicates with said valve chamber by an exhaust port Z and with the usual main bellows L, or the xhaust chamber (not shown) of the wind chest, by a passage Z and tube P. The exhaust chamber y" contains a pouch or flexible diaphragm Z such as ordinarily employed in pneumatic actions. This diaphragm acts upon a stem m carrying puppet v'alvesm, m arranged in the valve chamber 7' and operating to open the exhaust port Z when the flushing port 75 is closed and vice versa, in a manner common to such actions. The motor pneumatics G, G are connected with the valve-chambers 7' of the respective valve boxes J by tubes or passages n. leading from the chamber underneath the diaphragm Z of each valve box is a tube or passage 0 which extends upwardly to and communi rates with the rear end of a flushing duct or passage 7 preferably arranged in a block P secured centrally to thcunderside of the keytable, as best'shown inl igs. 5, 6 and 7 The front end of this duct opens at the bottom of the block and is normally closed by a valve (1 preferably carried by the free end ofespring q secured at its 0; posite end to the underside of the key-table." This spring is depressed for opening the valve "(7' by a push button or plunger it guidedinthe hey-table and bearing upon the front end of the spring, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. it will be understood that one of these buttons is provided for each of the two flushing valves 1), and those buttons are preferably arranged. side by side and centrally in front of the key-board, so that the two buttons may be conveniently dcpressed by fingers of the same hand, either simultaneously or independently.

In the operation of the instru ment, when the flushing valves 9 are closed, as shown, the exhaust valves m of the valveboxes J are also closed and the air valves m are open, shut ting oil communication between the motorpneumatics G, G and the exhaust chambers j, allowing said pneumatics to expand and shown in Figs. 4 and 9, and to move through their full stroke when actuated.

When it desired to subduefeither the treble or the bass, the corresponding button R is depressed, thus opening the complementary flushing valve q, admitting the atmosphere under the diaphragm Z and raising the latposition to be encountered by the movment is played manually.

hammer-rail by its own weight and by the forward or return stroke of the springpressed hammers B. in this manner, the tones of either the treble or the bass may be subdued to obtain the desired expression, or both buttons may be depressed simultaneously to soi'ten the tones of both the bass and the treble. in either case, the hammer-rail sections can be actuated. with great ease, as only sufiicient pressure is required upon the buttons to open the flushing valves (1 which is comparatively little, the motor pneumatics which are controlled by said buttons effecting the rearward movements of the rail-sections. rests normally against the rear side ol the main harmnerrail, the latter can be actuated f in the ordinary manner by means of the usual pedal, not shown, when the instruln this case, the single or undivided main rail, when actuated, shifts both sections of the supplemental rail backward with it, shortening the stroke of all the hammers, as in pianos having a single continuous hammer-rail.

While the pneumatic action h..rein shown and described is preferred lOl' controlling the motor pi'ieumatics ol' the supplemental hammer rail, I do not wish to be limited to that particular construction as said action may obviously be modified without departing from the scope and spirit of my invention.

l claim as my invention In an instrument of the character described, the combination of a main hammerrail, a sectional supplemental hammer-rail arranged on the rear side of the main rail, each section ol the supplemental rail being provided with an actuating arm extending forwardly beyond the main rail, motorpneumatics arranged below said rail-sections, and rods engaging said actuating arms at their upper ends and the movable members of the respective iuotor-pneumatics at their lower ends, substantially as set forth.

Witness my hand this 5th day of December, 1907.

Wl lililA-M l. BA Y E It.

Witnesses C. F. Gavan, E. M. GRAHAM.

As the divided hammer-rail till 

